Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor

43 reviews

khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Child death, Murder, and Biphobia

Moderate: Ableism and Racism

Minor: Cancer and Self harm

lprongs's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Honestly, I did not have high expectations when I picked this up for my book club, but it blew me away. It has amazing rep (autism, enby, lots of queer side characters including bi, lesbian, Black male aroace(!), adoption, etc.), manages to be extremely informative without being preachy or info-dumpy, and does a heckin' good job of normalizing a ton of stuff that should be normal.

The plot itself is gripping and so very queer, and by about two-thirds of the way through, I couldn't put it down. But I think what really gets me is how this book perfectly encapsulates the adage that trans people just want the chance to grow up - that trans kids deserve to live to an old age just like anyone else, just like they deserve a happy-but-awkward high school experience just like everyone else. There are so few trans elders in the world today because of too many early unnatural deaths, and Sam becomes obsessed with the idea that they'll die before their 19th birthday just like all the kids throughout history that they've researched. Even though these kids aren't necesserily trans or even queer, I see that parallel very strongly. So yeah, the ending made me cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime

Minor: Biphobia and Suicidal thoughts

Other content warnings include

attempted murder, misgendering, transphobia, toxic masculinity

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emily_mh's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

There wasn’t anything I hated about this book but I also don’t feel super enthusiastic about it having read it. I’ve broken the book down into its three core elements: 

The mystery. As with all mysteries, this consists of two parts: the investigation and the solution. The investigation was pretty lacklustre. Sam and their friends don’t really figure out anything beyond what’s already obvious. I also feel like a mystery should be peppered with mini reveals as the characters tease out the red herrings, but because of the lack of investigation, there weren’t really any. Because the mystery is the driving force of this book, it didn’t feel driven at all, but kind of wandery. To add to that, the solution was underwhelming. This was because I didn’t really know the suspects beyond surface level archetypal stuff, so none of them were compelling characters. 

The MC. I think Sam was the best part of the book. I loved the autism rep in them especially; it was woven in well with the narrative. They also seemed very real in their trauma responses, especially regarding their belief that they would die prematurely. Sam’s development with regard to their PTSD wasn’t rushed or unnatural, and I loved seeing them be able to find a place in which to belong. Having said all that, because I didn’t like the writing style of this book, and the book is written in first-person, the poor writing style became entwined with Sam’s narrative voice. This was a struggle. 

The romance. The attraction here wasn’t signposted very well, so I didn’t find the romantic connection between Sam and Shep believable. I honestly just wish there hadn’t been a romance at all. 

P.S. I’m not sure how good the adoption rep is here, but I do know that there might be an issue in the fact that we are not given any information on Sam’s background before they are in foster care at age 7. 

Rep: autistic queer ace nonbinary MC, aroace Afro-Latino SC, queer Latina LI, Vietnamese-American SC, bisexual SC, Jewish SC, sapphic Black SC, questioning SC 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Stalking, Hate crime, Transphobia, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Child death, Self harm, Biphobia, and Gun violence

Minor: Classism, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cancer, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Suicide, Alcohol, Car accident, Racism, Alcoholism, Addiction, War, Grief, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Ableism

Major: queerphobia, medical emergency, anaphylactic shock Moderate: migraines Minor: foster system, loss of a loved one, drowning

atomicbritt's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Hate crime

Moderate: Biphobia and Alcoholism

merle_bookdragon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I don't even exactly know where to start or end but this book was wonderful.

I'm usually not big on murder mystery but I guess if you package it in a YA queer contemporary with a wonderful protagonist it works. I really enjoyed Sam's POV, learning more about how they see the world and of course the wonderful realizations they had when they were finally surrounded by good friends. And my god are good friends groups one of my favorite things in literature. Sam, Shep, Sky, Aidan, and Ronnie and Jax, too, are such a wonderful group and I just wish everyone could be surrounded by such a safe group of people.

I think while this might sound cheesy one of my other favorite things was the wonderful representation we had in this book. Sam is autistic and nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, and they also identify themselves as panromantic and being on the ace spectrum. We also see Latina, Black, Vietnamese, bi, and aroace rep (and more I'm sure) in Sam's friend group and in the LGBTQIA+ club at school. 

The murder mystery part starts slowly and then grows more apparent towards the second half of the book when it becomes obvious that Sam and Shep have stirred a pot that somebody clearly doesn't want to have stirred. I really liked the dynamic development and without any spoilers - I didn't guess who the murder was.

And just for a little bit of emotional pain, because Sam was really good at inflicting that on me:

"I'm not afraid of the dead, Dad. They're dead. [...] The living are scarier."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Bullying, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Biphobia, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Stalking

Minor: Self harm, Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Outing

buttermellow's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Gun violence

penguinsquack's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Bullying

Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, Death, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Self harm

Allergic reaction and anaphylaxis

spark_879's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child death, Toxic friendship, Violence, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Minor: Vomit, Gun violence, Biphobia, Self harm, and Domestic abuse

transphobia = misgendering & harming someone because they're queer • murder = (accidental) attempted murder • sexual content = kissing

evelynyle_88's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The story is really creepy somehow, but heartwarming in some way. I love how Sam Sylvester enganged himself with his autistic (neurodivergent) condition in his life. 
I love every minute reading this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Bullying, and Homophobia

Moderate: Murder, Biphobia, and Death

Minor: Self harm, Domestic abuse, and Cancer

aexileigh's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Outing, Child death, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Biphobia, Bullying, Death, and Transphobia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Blood, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Domestic abuse